Alba Longa
Alba Longa (in Italian sources occasionally written
Albalonga) was an ancient city of
Latium, in the
Alban Hills founder and head of the
Latin Confederation; it was destroyed by
Rome around the middle of the
7th century BC.
According to legend Alba Longa was founded by
Ascanius or Iulus, son of
Aeneas, thirty years after the foundation of
Lavinium. Chronologically this would have been around the middle of the
12th century BC, some time after the destruction of
Troy (which according to ancient scholars occurred in
1184 BC).
From Ascanius there is said to have sprung a dynasty of
Alban kings, among whom the better known are
Procas and his sons
Numitor and
Amulius. The legitimate heir of Procas was Numitor; As Rome's power increased, the two cities fell into conflict, and finally under King
Tullus Hostilius (around the middle of the
7th century BC), a war between them was settled by the famous combat of the
Horatii and the
Curiatii; Alba was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, and her inhabitants were transferred to Rome, where the
Caelian hill was given to them.
According to the accounts of
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Kings of Alba Longa were the following:
*
Ascanius. A son of
Aeneas and
Creusa. Reigned for 38 years.
*
Silvius. A son of Aeneas and
Lavinia, younger half-brother of Ascanius. Reigned for 29 years.
*
Aeneas. A son of Silvius. Reigned for 31 years.
*
Latinus. Possibly a son of Aeneas. Reigned for 51 years.
*
Alba. Possibly a son of Latinus. Reigned for 39 years.
*
Capetus. Possibly a son of Alba. Reigned for 26 years.
*
Capys. Possibly a son of Capetus. Reigned for 28 years.
*
Capetus II. Possibly a son of Capys. Reigned for 13 years.
*
Tiberinus. Possibly a son of Capetus II. Reigned for 8 years. Reportedly slain in battle near an unnamed river and his body was carried away by it. The river was renamed
Tiber.
*
Agrippa. Possibly a son of Tiberinus. Reigned for 41 years.
*
Allodius. Possibly a son of Agrippa. Reigned for 19 years. Reportedly a
tyrant and contemptuous of the
Gods. He frightened the people by throwing thunderbolts at them, until he himself was murdered by one and his house was submerged in the Alban Lake.
*
Aventinus. Possibly a son of Allocius. Reigned for 37 years. The
Aventine Hill was reportedly named after him.
*
Procas. Possibly a son of Aventinus. Reigned for 23 years.
*
Amulius. A younger son of Procas who reportedly usurped the throne. Reigned for 42 years. Slain by his grand-nephews
Romulus and Remus.
*
Numitor. The older brother of Amulius. Reportedly succeeded him a year before the foundation of
Rome. His successor is not named.
According to
Livy we know of two more kings of Alba Longa. Both reigned during the reign of the Roman king
Tullus Hostilius. The first of these kings was
Gaius Cluilius who died during a war against the Romans. He was succeeded by
Mettius Fufetius who was in turn executed by Tullus Hostilius for treachery.
The location of the ancient Latin city has been much debated since the
16th century. The point of departure is the foundation story in
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (I.66 ff.) which speaks of a site between Monte Cavo and the
Alban Lake. The site has been at various times identified with the convent of S. Paolo at Palazzola, near
Albano, or with Coste Caselle, near
Marino, or finally with
Castel Gandolfo. The last of these places in fact occupies the site of Domitian's villa, which ancient sources state in turn occupied the
arx of Alba.
Archaeological data available for the Iron Age show the existence of a string of villages, each one with its own necropolis, along the south-western shore of the Alban Lake. When Rome destroyed these villages they must have still been in a pre-urban phase, starting to group around a centre that may well have been Castel Gandolfo, since the necropolis there is significantly larger, suggesting a larger town.
In the later republican period the territory of Alba (the
Ager Albanus) was settled once again with many residential villas, which are mentioned in ancient literature and of which remains are extant.
On the top of the Alban Mount was a very ancient shrine consecrated to Jupiter Latiaris.
Florus (
2nd century) states that the site was selected by Ascanius, who, having founded Alba, invited all the Latins to celebrate sacrifices there to
Jupiter, a custom which eventually led to the annual celebration there of the
Feriae Latinae, at which all the cities that belonged to the Latin Confederation would gather under the aegis of Alba, sacrificing a white bull, the flesh of which was distributed among all the participants.
After Alba Longa was destroyed and her leadership role was assumed by Rome, tradition records the building of a full-scale temple to Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount in the reign of
Tarquinius Superbus; of which only a few courses of perimeter wall remain today, now removed off site; and substantial remains of the paved road that connected it to the
Via Appia near
Aricia.
*
Albano*
Alba Longa*
Livy, Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), Book I*
Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Alba Longa (Castel Gandolfo), Latium, Italy"
